Rafael Nadal: ‘I want to be remembered as someone who left a good example for boys and girls’
He will go down as one of the all-time greats of tennis once he hangs up his racket for good, but Rafael Nadal insists his “only objective” is to leave a “good example for boys and girls”.
The 19-time Grand Slam winner won title No 85 over the weekend as he downed Taylor Fritz to win the Mexican Open for a third time in his career.
The trophy leaves him nine behind Ivan Lendl in third place on the all-time title list for most singles titles with Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) ahead of them.
However, the 33-year-old Nadal is not too bothered about the titles as he wants to leave a lasting legacy.
“In the future, I do not want to be remembered as a tennis player who won numerous titles, but to have left a good example for boys and girls,” he said.
“This is my only objective, then winning or losing is part of the sport in general. If one thing I wish I could say that I have done well is that I have transmitted positive things on and off a track and that makes me very satisfied on my part.”
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